Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 launched on 23 October, and two of the first video verdicts point at the same part of the package. PC Gamer's Morgan Park argues that DMZ, the game's extraction mode, is built for people who don't usually like extraction shooters. Nintendo Life's Switch 2 review, written by Gavin Lane and presented on video by Alex, gives the whole game 9 out of 10, and Alex names DMZ as his personal highlight. Different platforms, different reviewers, the same surprise.
If you need a refresher on how DMZ is structured, our reports on the Forward Operating Base and Hajin and the early-access dates cover what Activision announced before launch.
PC Gamer: an extraction shooter that wants you to win
Park's video starts from scepticism. Its description says he went into his first sessions doubting the world needed another extraction shooter. What changed his mind, he says, is tone: DMZ is easygoing and surprisingly chill, a mode that wants players to succeed.
He puts that down to design choices. Infinity Ward, in his view, didn't build DMZ around punishing loss: cash comes in reliably, and the penalties for a bad run are manageable. He points to a self-revive you can use once per run, at the cost of some maximum health, without needing to carry a consumable. Permanent progression, traits and crafting stations give it the feel of a Call of Duty RPG, he says, and that matches what Activision described in its October deep dive on the Forward Operating Base, where gear, Operators and long-term upgrades persist between deployments.
His praise has limits. He finds Call of Duty's heavily armoured human soldiers boring opponents next to the monsters of Hunt: Showdown or the machines of Arc Raiders. But he credits the story missions as a guided on-ramp for players new to the genre, and says the streamlined looting, with ammo and crafting materials picked up automatically, respects your time.
Nintendo Life: the full game on Switch 2, with compromises
Nintendo Life's review is about the whole package on Nintendo's console, and the score is high. Alex opens the review with praise for the game's movement, which he calls balletic in its precision, and describes the campaign as a thrilling blockbuster run of about six to eight hours.
The technical detail is where Switch 2 owners will want to look closely. According to the review, the campaign runs at 30 frames per second, and DMZ targets 40 frames per second docked and 30 handheld, while most multiplayer modes aim for 60. Nintendo Life credits Digital Legends with the port and says it made the right compromises to bring the game across. Not everything lands: the review finds the rotating modular maps of the Kill Block mode repetitive rather than game-changing.
Alex's personal take at the end is where DMZ comes back in. He says it felt overwhelming at first but became his favourite part of the game, best played with a three-player squad, and that the extra ten frames when docked make a real difference. His one wish is for more optimisation toward a steady 60 frames per second across every mode.
What the two verdicts add up to
Neither video is a final word on Modern Warfare 4, and they review different versions. Read together, though, they make the same case: DMZ is the part of this year's Call of Duty that might reach players who have bounced off the genre. PC Gamer's reasons are its forgiving rules and guided missions; Nintendo Life's are that it holds up on a handheld and rewards playing with friends.
If you're on Switch 2, Nintendo's own launch post confirms the full three-mode game is out now, and the review's frame-rate notes are worth reading before you choose between docked and handheld. If you play on PC, Park's video is a useful explainer of what DMZ asks of you.
How viewers reacted
The comments under PC Gamer's video were mostly from people the title was aimed at: viewers who dislike punishing extraction shooters said they might give it a try, though some found the AI enemies too easy. Nintendo Life's viewers were struck by how well the game seems to run on a portable console, several said they were surprised by the high score, and one popular comment asked why the review didn't mention the Switch 2's mouse controls.
From the creators
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